Yetholm woman’s Amazon travels

A retired shepherdess from Yetholm, who recently travelled to the Amazon Rainforest in Bolivia with Christian Aid, features in a new touring photography exhibition.

The exhibition, called Inherit the Earth, is being launched in Kelso on May 2 at Café U in Roxburgh Street. It shares stories and captivating images of Christian Aid’s work with indigenous communities on projects including solar ovens and water pumps, wild cacao production and community vegetable gardens designed to improve food security.

Trish Gentry (72), a long-term supporter of Christian Aid, was invited on the trip, along with two other woman, to see first-hand how donations to Christian Aid are transforming lives. A photographer accompanied the three women and it is the people they met and places they visited which feature in the colourful new exhibition.

Trish met one of the first women to receive a solar oven and they chatted about how such a simple concept was making such a huge difference, Trish said: “Visiting Bolivia with Christian Aid was an experience I will never forget and such an amazing contrast to my life in the Borders working with sheep.”

At the Café U for three days, the exhibition goes to Kelso North Parish Church and then the Old Parish Church, Peebles, during Christian Aid Week (May 14-20). If you would like to host the exhibition call Jo Dallas on 0141 241 6139 or email jdallas@christian-aid.org.